Yesterday Paul and I went into town for London Pride. We met up with Jess and Helen (above) who were very excited about it! Below are some of the photos I took but there are more on Flickr. Paul took photos too which you can see on his Flickr page (including one of the newly elected mayor of London, Boris Johnson, leading the parade.
Marching Unions. ‘Unite, the Union, Campaigning against homophobic bullying and harassment’.Unison Union members.
More unionists.
Unite Union. Campainging for Equality with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members.Read the rest of this entry »

On Tuesday night (UK time) I watched live ABC coverage of the apology made in the Australian parliament to the stolen generations. It was very moving – I cried quite a bit. I really liked Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s speech. Unfortunately, I think Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson’s speech wasn’t so good – he started ok but then he talked about things that were irrelevant (war veterans?) and he talked about some of the appalling social problems in some Indigenous communities – I think it was his way of justifying the previous government’s ‘intervention’ in the Northern Territory – which I think wasn’t necessary. Surely he didn’t need to rub salt into the wounds of the stolen generations. The day should have been apologising for the hurts caused to them, not bringing up horrible repercussions of that.

On Tuesday night (UK time) I watched live ABC coverage of the apology made in the Australian parliament to the stolen generations. It was very moving – I cried quite a bit. I really liked Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s speech. Unfortunately, I think Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson’s speech wasn’t so good – he started ok but then he talked about things that were irrelevant (war veterans?) and he talked about some of the appalling social problems in some Indigenous communities – I think it was his way of justifying the previous government’s ‘intervention’ in the Northern Territory – which I think wasn’t necessary. Surely he didn’t need to rub salt into the wounds of the stolen generations. The day should have been apologising for the hurts caused to them, not bringing up horrible repercussions of that.

A new report on how schools are funded looks set to reopen the debate on where taxpayer money goes in the education system.

The Australian Council on Educational Research report says private schools are getting a “disproportionate” share of the state funding pie, while public schools are having to shoulder extra burdens.

…

The report’s author, Andrew Dowling, explains the system.

“The Commonwealth funds non-government schools as well as government schools based on the average cost of educating a kid in a government school,” he said.

“So if the costs of teaching kids in government schools increase, then that’s flowed on into the funding that the Commonwealth gives… to all schools in Australia, as more kids move out of government schools into non-government schools.

“It seems apparent that a lot of those kids are the least expensive to teach, in a sense, they’re the ones that are easiest to teach and are less expensive to teach.

“As they move into non-government schools, the residualisation in the government schools, ie, the more expensive kids who are harder to teach, who stay in government schools, increases the average cost of teaching a kid in government schools, and that flows in to the Commonwealth funding for all schools.”

A new report on how schools are funded looks set to reopen the debate on where taxpayer money goes in the education system.

The Australian Council on Educational Research report says private schools are getting a “disproportionate” share of the state funding pie, while public schools are having to shoulder extra burdens.

…

The report’s author, Andrew Dowling, explains the system.

“The Commonwealth funds non-government schools as well as government schools based on the average cost of educating a kid in a government school,” he said.

“So if the costs of teaching kids in government schools increase, then that’s flowed on into the funding that the Commonwealth gives… to all schools in Australia, as more kids move out of government schools into non-government schools.

“It seems apparent that a lot of those kids are the least expensive to teach, in a sense, they’re the ones that are easiest to teach and are less expensive to teach.

“As they move into non-government schools, the residualisation in the government schools, ie, the more expensive kids who are harder to teach, who stay in government schools, increases the average cost of teaching a kid in government schools, and that flows in to the Commonwealth funding for all schools.”